Power transmitting apparatus



1934- E. R. LLEWELLYN POWER TRANSMITTING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed 001:. '7, 1950 NOV. 6, 1934. R. LLEWELLYN 1,979,333

POWER TRANSMITTING APPARATUS Original Filed Oct. 7, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 UNITED STATES PAT POWER TRANSMITTING APPARATUS Ernest R. Llewellyn, Arlington, Mass, assignor to The Hendey Machine Company, Torrington, Conn, a corporation of Connecticut Original application October 7, 1930, Serial No. 486,948. Divided and this application April 22, 1932, Serial No. 606,969

3' Claims. (Cl. 172-36) This invention relates to speed-change poweroperating mechanism therefor; to provide imtransmitting mechanism as well as to machine proved power delivering and transmitting mechtools of the general class of which shapers,millanism preferably in the form of an individual ing machines, planers and the like are represendrive unit of general utility which is particularly tative; and is a division of the application of adapted for usewith machines having the afore 60 Ernest R. Llewellyn and George H. Higgins, Serial mentioned improvements; and also to provide No. 486,948, filed October 7, 1930, patented May apparatus of the class described having anim- 8, 1934, No. 1,958,106. proved construction and arrangement of parts.

It is customary to equip -machines of this In the drawings:

general character with an individual drive which Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a shaper equipped 65 may comprise a driving motor or other prime "with an individual drive change speed unit with mover and reduction gearing. For some classes certain parts omitted and other parts broken of work it is sometimes possible to provide a mulaway for the purposes of illustration; and tiple speed driving motor having operating speeds Fig. 2 is a central vertical section of the change and other characteristics corresponding to those speed unit shown in Fig. 1. 7 required for certain operations of the machine. The apparatus selected for illustrating the Whenever this can be done it is advantageous to features of the invention comprises a shaper transmit power directly from the motor to the indicated generally at 10 and an individual drive machine as this not only avoids any loss of power unit, indicated generally at 11. The shaper comthrough gearing, but also eliminates the possiprises a frame 12 which supports a reciprocable bility of chatter marks on the work due to tooth member or ram 13 for working and return strokes impact of the gearing, and in general tends to thereof. A work table 1 1 is also provided for improve the operating efiiciency. In other cases supporting stock to be machined, such as a piece it may bedesirable to increase the utility of a of stock 16, which may be clamped to the table machine by making available a number of lower by means of retaining bolts 17. A stroke arm 18 operating speeds such as may be obtained by us is mounted to pivot on the lower portion of the ing a multiple speed motor with a speed reducframe at 19. The upper end of this arm is tion unit. connected by means of a link 21 to an adjust- Difiiculty has been encountered with mechaable clamping member 22, which is adapted to nism available heretofore for actuating the opoccupy various positions longitudinally of the crating members of machines of the class deram, being movable lengthwise thereof through scribed. For instance the ram of a shaper is the longitudinal opening or slot 23. The under commonly actuated by apparatus including spur or rear side of the stroke arm is provided with gearing. While theoretically the gear'teeth may a guiding channel 24, which slidably receives 3 be formed to assure a rolling contact and a and'retains a block 26. A worm wheel 27 is smooth uniform flow of power, it is found in acrotatably mounted upon the frame and operably tual practice that impacts sometimes occur as connected to a crank arm 28. The outer end "the teeth comeinto engagement. These'impacts of this crank arm carries a journal 29 which cause the transmission of power to be uneven fits in a complementary recess in the slidable {m and produce irregularities in the stock being mablock 26. At the lower side of the worm wheel chined. To overcome these undesirable results a shaft 31 is rotatably mounted in suitable bearit has frequently been necessary to lap the gear lugs 32 carried by the frame. This shaft carries teeth or to resort to other expensive operations a driving worm 33 which meshes with the worm which from a manufacturing point of view it is wheel 2'7. v i

highly desirable to avoid. The prime mover for operating theshaper is 1 Objects of the present invention are to imhere shown in the form of a mult1ple speed prove the construction of apparatus of the class electric motor indicated gener at 35 and 00mdescribed so as to overcome the aforementioned prising a rotor 36 which carries the armature 37 difficulties; to improve the efliciency as well as and is fast on the housing or tubular shaft 38.

50 to increase the utility of speed-change power- This shaft is rotatably supported in bearings 39 10 transmitting sets by providing for transmitting carried by a housing 41 which also carries the power either directly from a prime mover or fields 42 for the motor. I through speed-change mechanism; to improve the A speed changer unit indicated generally at operation and to reduce the cost of machine tools "43 is enclosed in a housing 44 iormed-preferably of the class referred to by providing improved as a continuation of the housing 41. This speed changer unit preferably comprises a central highspeed member or roller 46 and a plurality of planetary rollers 47, which are rotatably mounted upon axles 48 carried by a rotary cage 49, the cage constituting the low-speed member. A binding pressure is exerted upon the rollers 46 and 47 in accordance with operating conditions by means carried by the housing 44 and indicated at 51. A speed-changer of this general type is fully disclosed in the patent to Garrard, No. 1,709,345, issued April 16, 1929, and therefore is only briefly referred to here. The central shaft or high-speed member of this speed changer unit is connected to the tubular shaft 38 and may be made integral therewith, as shown. The low-speed member or rotary cage 49 is formed integral with or rigidly connected to a short intermediate tubular shaft 52.

A shaft 53 is arranged to extend through the tubular shafts 52 and 38, being rotatably supported by bearings (not shown). The short tubular shaft 52 carries a clutch jaw 54, which is adapted to be engaged by a movable clutch jaw 56 splined on the adjacent portion of the inner shaft. Likewise at the other end of the prime mover a clutch jaw 54 is keyed on the end portion of the tubular shaft 38and is adapted .to be engaged by a movable jaw 56, which is splined on the adjacent portion of shaft 53. To assure that these clutches will not be engaged at the same time there is provided an intercontrol mechanism comprising pivotally mounted clutch operating levers 57 and 58, which engage annular grooves 59 in the clutch jaws 56, 56. At their upper ends these levers are connected by a rigid link 61, thereby making it impossible to have both clutches engaged at the same time. Power is transmitted from the shaft 53 of the driving unit through a cone clutch, indicated generally at 62, to the worm shaft 31. This clutch comprises a member 63 keyed on shaft 53 and having an interior conical surface which is adapted to be engaged by the outer conical surface of a member 64: carried by the worm shaft. The latter member is slidable longitudinally of the worm shaft and has an annular groove 66 in which an operating member (not shown) is disposed for engaging and disengaging the clutch. A clutch of this type is fully disclosed in the patent to George H. Knight, No. 1,544,993, issued July 7, 1925, to which reference may be had for a more complete description of the construction andmode of operation thereof. 1

In operation of the apparatus with the control levers 5'7 and 58 shifted to their right-hand position, as viewed in the drawings, power is transmitted directly from the tubular armature shaft to the inner shaft and from the latter through the clutch to worm shaft for operating the shaper. When so arranged the driving worm may be operated efiiciently at any of the various speeds for which the motor is wound. This arrangement therefore provides a range of relatively high operating speeds. When lower speeds aredesired the levers 5'7, 58 may be shifted to their left-hand position so as to engage the jaw clutch on the right and to cause power to be transmitted from the hollow armature shaft to the central roller or high speed member of the speed changer unit, This causes the short tubular shaft, and likewise the worm shaft, to be operated at reduced speeds. In this manner a wide range of relatively high and low operating speeds are made instantly available. At the same time the apparatus is compact and efficient in operation.

As power is transmitted to the worm shaft the worm wheel is set in rotation and likewise causes the crank arm 28 to rotate, thereby reciprocating the slidable block 26 in the channel 24 of the stroke arm 18 as the latter receives a forward and return pivotal motion due to the operation of. this mechanism. This motion of the crank arm is likewise transmitted through the link 21 to the ram which is accordingly given a reciprocatory motion comprising a relatively slow working stroke, or movement to the right as viewed in Fig. l, and a quick return stroke.

The use of the driving worm and worm wheel for operating the stroke arm and ram assures a smooth even flow of power for operating theram at substantially constant speed particularly during the working stroke. In this way the usual disadvantages, such as the expense of finishing or lapping spur gearing for operating the ram, are avoided. These improvements are made possible largely by the improved change speed driving unit. Heretofore, .to obtain desired speed gearratios, it has been necessary to interpose the change speed gear box, comprisinga multiplicity of change gears, between the prime mover and the main driving gear or pinion of themachine. Due to the requirement for changing or shifting the gears, in the change speed box, the spur type of gearing is ordinarily used with attendant undesirable results caused from impacts of the engaging teeth of the rotating gears, as is well known. When a change gear box is utilized, to obtain desired ratios, the driving gear or pinion of the machine is directly associated with and driven from the gear box and which usually forms an integral part of the machine.- With means for obtaining desired speed ratios embodied with the prime mover, and which com prises a unit independent of the machine, greater latitude is permitted in connecting the two units to eliminate undesirable results that might be caused by the prime mover and speed changer. As the driving worm and worm wheelare in constant enmeshment the usualimp acts of engaging teeth do not occur. There is therefore no reason for resorting to expensive finishing operations in the manufacture of the worm gearing.

It should be understood that the present disclosure is for the purpose of illustration only and that this invention includes all modifications and equivalents which fall within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. The combination with a prime mover comprising a rotor, and a hollow drive shaft extending therethrough and operatively connected thereto, of speed-change mechanism disposed about the drive shaft relatively close to the rotor, a housing having separate chambers substantially enclosing the rotor and the speed-change mechanism, a driven shaft extending through the hollow drive shaft, a clutch disposed outside the housing adjacent one end of the hollow drive shaft for connecting the latter to the driven shaft, another clutch disposed adjacent the speed-change mechanism for connecting this I mechanism to the driven shaft, and means interconnecting the two clutches for concomitantly engaging one of the clutches and disengaging the other.

2. Apparatus of the class described comprising a tubular driving shaft, a driven shaft within the tubular shaft, a prime mover disposed about the tubular driving shaft and connected directly thereto for operating this shaft at the speed of the prime mover, speed-change mechanism comprising high speed and low speed units, one of said units being connected directly to one of said shafts for operation therewith, releasable means for clutching the other of said units to the other of said shafts, and releasable means for clutching both shafts together for operating the driven shaft at the speed of the prime mover.

3. Apparatus of the class described comprising a prime mover including a rotor, a hollow shaft to which the rotor is directly connected, a driven shaft extending through the prime mover and said hollow shaft, a speed-change mechanism disposed at one side of the prime mover and connected to one of said shafts, releasable clutch means to connect said mechanism to the other of said shafts, and releasable clutch means located at the side of the prime mover remote from said mechanism directly to connect said shafts, whereby the first clutch means may permit the driven shaft to be driven through the changespeed mechanism and whereby the second clutch means may permit the driven shaft to be driven directly by the. prime mover.

ERNEST R. LLEWELLYN. 

